Method of Downloading Data in a Radio Communications System

1. A method for downloading data in a radio communications system, the system including at least one base station with means for transmitting data via a communication link, the method which comprises: dividing data into a plurality of data packets; transmitting the data packets via the communication link to at least one receiving station; halting a download of the data packets upon determining that a handover of the receiving station is due; subsequently resuming the download of the data packets via a new communication link after a conclusion of the handover; using a broadcast link to continue the download of data packets if a system load or a number of receiving stations exceed a predetermined threshold; and when the system load or the number of receiving stations lies below the predetermined threshold, using at least one dedicated channel to continue the download of data packets.

2. The method according to claim 1 , which comprises marking each of a plurality of data packets assigned to a session with a session index.

3. The method according to claim 2 , which comprises assigning a packet index to each of the data packets of a session, the packet index including the session index and an individual packet number.

4. The method according to claim 1 , which comprises selectively halting and continuing the download of the data packets depending on a determined system load or a number of receiving stations communicating with the base station.

5. The method according to claim 1 , which comprises signaling at least one of an end of session command and a number of further retransmissions of the sessions to the receiving station.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data is software data for adapting or modifying software of the receiving station.

7. The method according to claim 1 , which comprises using a broadcast channel with a reduced transmission power for transmitting the data.

8. The method according to claim 1 , which comprises changing an affiliation of a user equipment, forming the receiving station, from a first base station to a second base station and selectively receiving a missing part of a session from the base stations repeatedly broadcasting a download stream.

9. The method according to claim 1 , which comprises, in case a bearer service is changed or the download channel is changed from a broadcast channel to a dedicated channel, requesting the non-received or corrupted data packet with the receiving station by signaling a table of missing packets to the base station.

10. The method according to claim 1 , which comprises, in a multi-download-service scenario with multiple cells each broadcasting a different session, selecting with the receiving station a session by way of a session index.

11. A radio communication system, comprising at least one base station and at least one receiving station each having means for carrying out the method according to claim 1 .

12. A station of a radio communication system, comprising means for carrying out the method according to claim 1 .

13. The method according to claim 1 , which comprises halting the download of the data packets upon making a determination selected from the group consisting of determining that a data packet has not been received by the receiving station and determining that a corrupted data packet has been received by the receiving station.

14. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the base station performs the step of dividing the data into the plurality of data packets.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein: the receiving station transmits a packet number of a missing packet to the base station; and in response to receiving the packet number of the missing packet, the base station transmits the missing packet to the receiving station.